Still Waiting for Good Growing Weather?

[digitS']

3:10am: My garden's nearest weather station, the school, isn't online!

Liberty Lake is 40 as of an hour ago. Why don't they update!

Newman Lake is 35.6! That may have been colder than yesterday. I wasn't checking that one yesterday! Grumble, grump! Okay, tea in the thermos . . . off I go.

digitS'

 

[MontyJ]

I guess it's not just an incident isolated to the PNW. Frost warnings have been posted here for tonight and tomorrow night. Predicted low of 34. Strange how the maps claim my last frost date is May1-May15. In the last 10 years the earliest last frost was last year, May 4. All other years were May 15 or later. This will be the second time we have had frost on the 25th of May in that same 10 year period. Most of my plants are still safely tucked away in the greenhouse. I do have some corn peeking up and maybe some beans. My special beans are still in the house though

 

[digitS']

MontyJ, you must live in a chilly part of the state. Is it elevation that allows such cool temperatures?

We just so seldom have a good warm-up in the spring. Too many clouds from the coast.

Then, it is usually quite dry here and somewhat high (2000ft). So, overnight temperatures tend to drop quite a bit . . . Dang, if it can't warm up and is happy to cool down! Kind of alpine weather . . .

Now, Heather, sitting with her stocking feet in front of the fireplace this morning, can tell us tales that will curl our toes. But, Heather really lives close to honest to goodness alpine weather.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Frost on neighbor's lawn at dawn - it only took about 20 minutes with the sprinklers running to dodge the danger this morning. My plants have been hardened off so well they are tough as nails. Hope I can chew thru some of them when that time comes .

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Sun's up today, looks like its going to be a gorgeous day...thank goodness!! My garden plants were MIRACULOUSLY okay yesterday in the snow...i cant even tell you how that is...! I did some investigating into our weather after i saw the snow yesterday...they didnt call for a freeze or snow or a winter storm warning until 1 am, guess i'll have to start checking the weather in the middle of the night like you, Steve!! Plus, our storm system came up from the southeast, now that is just bizarre to me! Our weather almost always seems to run right across idaho.

Anyway, i had a piece of plastic casually tossed over the tomatoes and peppers, and a few other things...the plastic wasnt even closed at the ends, but everything looks FINE! I'm pretty astounded, and thankful!! Our 12' lilacs were bent to about half their height...this year was the most massive lilac blooming i've ever seen, all around our town...and because the snow was so wet and heavy they all just got shoved right to the ground. I saw some broken trees and limbs around town too. But today they're starting to perk up...still cant walk on our sidewalk, they're completely blocking it!

Oh, and wednesday we set a precipitation record for the day, .92 inches!!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

We covered ours again and at I think midnight it said 39. I went out and checked on the rabbits and checked again and it was 41. I am not sure what the low really was early this morning.

 

[MontyJ]

Steve, I don't know if it's so much elevation (about 1200') or latitude. The city of Follansbee (using that term loosly) is at about 750'. I live on a mountain top (again a loosly used term in comparison to where you live) and am 400-500 feet higher. I'm in the northernmost part of the state, just 35 or so miles due west of Pittsburgh, Pa.

 

[ducks4you]

The ONLY thing good about this Spring is that we have no drought any longer. It was 88 degrees F a few days ago, then 40 last night. Chicago (3 hrs north on I-57) had a frost last night. I have a few spinach that are bolting, and we JUST started eating spinach. My sugar snap peas are STILL not big enough for harvest, and I've finishing my sweet potato and potato beds to plant this weekend bc they ALL should have been in the ground a few week's back. Don't think the the SP's would have like it, though.
My asparagus bed, planted last year was almost a total bust. Only 4 plants survived--NO harvest. I wore myself out with that bed--don't know if I want to do it again. =/
My clematis is however, picture perfect. My knockout yellow rose shows NO sign of any winter damage. I guess we'll see what happens...

 

[journey11]

Monty, my low is supposed to be 37 here tonight. I think you are a half a zone up from me and my elevation here is about 600 feet. Either way, this is really weird weather for us this time of year...particularly the huge swing in temps. It was 90 here the other day! I am glad to be rid of the humidity for a little while though.

I missed the bus on getting my tomatoes and stuff planted a couple weeks ago. I was waiting for the safe frost-free date, but the weather was perfect at the time and dry too. Soonest I can plant now will be Memorial Day, since it finally quit raining. It is usually Memorial Day when I get my garden in anyway, since DH is off and can help me and it goes faster.

However, I have tomatoes and squash that have come up in my compost/manure pile and they are over a foot tall now and so lush! They only sprouted maybe 2-3 weeks ago, about the time the rain started. This is certainly something that leaves me scratching my head, since my tomatoes that I started inside 2 months ago look so little and sad compared to them. Makes me wonder if I wouldn't be better off starting tomatoes later, directly in the ground and using a plastic covered low-tunnel and maybe an occasional heat-bulb to protect them against the now random and unusual possibility of a frost in May. :/

 

[MontyJ]

I know what you mean Journey. It was 87 here a few days ago. I almost planted out, but something made me wait. Somebody in the PNW opened the dang door again (I suspect Steve) and let the cold air come in. I'm glad i waited. I couldn't possibly cover the entire garden, 34 is just too close to a hard freeze for me.